Abstract
The taxonomy of the giant ants of the genus Dinoponera is revised based on female and male morphology. Eight species are recognized. Dinoponera nicinha sp. nov., from Amazonas and Rondônia, Brazil, is described and D. grandis (Guérin-Méneville, 1838) is revived. The species D. australis Emery, 1901 and D. snellingi Lenhart, Dash & Mackay, 2013, plus the subspecies D. australis bucki Borgmeier, 1937 and D. australis nigricolor Borgmeier, 1937 are synonymized under D. grandis sp. rev. An unnamed and unidentified male is reported. In general, male morphology has greater and more discrete variation than in females, but they are scarce in museum collections. Species distributions are updated and illustrated, the genus ranging from southern Colombia to northern Argentina, with no reliable records from the Guiana Shield and all nominal species occurring in Brazil. Intraspecific variation and natural history are discussed. New illustrated identification keys are provided for both sexes. Future studies should address the collection of fresh specimens for molecular work and to assess the conservation status of several species and populations.
Highlights
Ants of the ponerine ant genus Dinoponera Roger, 1861 may have a body length exceeding 3.5 cm, making them the genus with the largest known ant workers
Padre Jesus Santiago Moure, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil ICNC = Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá DC, Colombia INPA = Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil MCSN = Museo Civico di Storia Naturale ′′Giacomo Doria′′, Genoa, Italy MCZC = Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA MNHNP = Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del Paraguay, San Lorenzo, Asunción, Paraguay MPEG = Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil MZSP = Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil UEG = Laboratório de Pesquisa Ecológica e Educação Científica, Universidade Estadual de
Based on all of this evidence, we argue for the synonymy of these names; we strongly encourage future studies on D. grandis, as the high variability of this species can be a sign of the existence of a complex of cryptic species
Summary
Ants of the ponerine ant genus Dinoponera Roger, 1861 may have a body length exceeding 3.5 cm, making them the genus with the largest known ant workers. They are exclusively South American, with their center of diversity in Brazil, the only country where all described species can be found. Roger (1861) to include Ponera gigantea Perty, 1833 and Ponera grandis GuérinMéneville, 1838, the latter being considered a junior synonym by Roger. According to the principle of taxonomic priority, Dinoponera gigantea was defined as the valid name of the species (Bequaert 1926). Several authors have used variations in size, integument brightness, petiole shape and male color to name such forms as subspecies and varieties of D. gigantea (Emery 1901; Santschi 1921, 1928; European Journal of Taxonomy 784: 1–66 (2021)
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